Personal Blog of Carl Pei

Just today, the limitations put on my two PayPal accounts were lifted.

A PayPal limitation basically means that your account is locked to various degrees, and you have to show them evidence that you are the person behind the account. The amount of evidence depends on how limited you are. Everyone gets limited sooner or later, so it is advisable to learn as much about the process as possible.

The limitation is a security measure by PayPal to protect themselves from people using stolen / hacked credit cards that causes them to lose money. It is necessary, but also a very tedious process for their honest customers. For instance, many links inside their Resolution Center were broken and lead nowhere. Not only to protect themselves, the limitation is also a way for them to retain higher profitability, using the money of their customers to invest. I had almost $10k USD in my account which they locked for 2 weeks, which can get them around $25 USD in interest in a Swedish bank, much more if they invested more cleverly.

My personal account, which was limited once before got limited once again. This time, I had to show them bank and credit card statements together with proof of address.

My premier account, which had its limitation lifted the 25th January, was limited once again the 27th after I withdrew $1.500 USD. They wanted statements of 2 credit cards, photo ID and proof of address.

I’m not home, so I had to call home for my parents to help me gather the needed information. After many hours of frustration, a phone call to PayPal and much waiting, my accounts were finally restored today.

Lessons learned:

1. Never keep money in your PayPal account waiting for the dollar to rise. There is no perfect moment, just withdraw and forget about it.
2. Only add the credit cards and bank accounts that you currently use. Having more means you will have more to prove to them.

This past week has been pretty unbearable. Life in China has been cold, very cold.

The government has issued a nationwide red alert because of heavy snowstorms that has put this country in a state of shock. Transportation is no longer working, trains and busses have stopped mid-way or slowed down to a crawl. To rub salt into wound, now is the time when people travel home to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year - the most important holiday in China.

In some cities, there has been no electricity nor water for 4 days. Many people are trying to book planes to South China because of the relatively warmer climate.

Here in Zhuhai, it has been around 5-6 degrees Celcius for the past week. Traditionally a warm and subtropical city, there are no heaters in the apartments. Basically, the temperature inside is the same as the temperature outside. Right now I’m wearing a thick jacket in my own apartment and my toes are freezing to death! Showering and getting out of bed have become a nightmare. In the neighboring city of Guangzhou, 200,000+ people have camped several days in wait for a train that will take them home for the New Year.

Business has also been affected. I can not ship anything outside of this province, and am forced to rely on local services which have greatly increased costs. Also, packages are taking longer to reach their destination. In result, more complaints have been received. It has been a hectic time. Many here have related these events to those in the movie The Day After Tomorrow, and I tend more and more to agree. There’s no denying that climate change is happening.

Luckily, the snowstorm is almost over (according to forecasts). From Monday next week, the temperature will start to gradually increase to the nice and warm subtropical Zhuhai again. Hopefully I’ll be able to switch my jacket for a t-shirt.